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Centre to procure apples from J&K farmers directly

New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- As part of its long-term strategy to win over different sections of people from the Valley and normalise the situation there, the Centre has decided to procure apples cultivated in Jammu & Kashmir directly from farmers by the Government-run National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).

The payment will be delivered to bank accounts of farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. Officials said on Tuesday that NAFED has been directed to finish the entire procurement process by December 15 through State's agencies.

The announcement came in the wake of reports that terrorists were threatening apple growers not to sell their produce in the market following abrogation of the spec...